The ugly jobs report perpetuated concerns that another spring swoon could be on the horizon.

In this week’s edition of MarketBeat Week, our Friday podcast, Paul and I give our take on the disappointing jobs data and what it means for investors. Stocks and the economy have slowed in the second quarter in each of the past three three years. Worries are creeping in that history could repeat itself, yet again.

In addition, earnings season kicks off next week when Alcoa reports quarterly results on Monday after the bell. Between a slew of negative preannouncements and Wall Street ratcheting expectations lower, companies and analysts have set another low bar for the upcoming reporting period.

After hitting a series of record highs, stocks have been losing momentum over the past few weeks. The S&P 500 has alternated between gains and losses in each of the past 12 days, the longest streak of its kind in the index’s history.

Despite the waffling, the S&P 500 is still up 8.9% for the year. Surprisingly, Best Buy is the top performer this year, up 114%, while Netflix and Hewlett-Packard round out the top three, up 77% and 54%, respectively. Last year’s trash is proving to be this year’s treasure.

The Dow rose 11% over the first three months of the year, it’s best first-quarter performance since 1998. The S&P 500 jumped 10% in the quarter, finishing Thursday at 1569.19, a fresh record high. Many financial markets were closed Friday in observance of Good Friday.

With stocks up and bullishness running rampant, one worry heading into the second quarter is the seasonal weakness that typically takes place this time of year. Spring selloffs began in April in each of the past three years. After such a strong start to 2013, few would be surprised if history repeated itself.

Stocks finished an up-and-down week basically flat, but Cyprus worries sent the market’s fear gauge, the VIX, up about 20% for the week. European worries are back and volatility is coming back. Research In Motion? The jury’s out on its comeback attempt.

In this week’s installment of MarketBeat Week, our Friday podcast, Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer’s Investment Research, joined the crew to offer his insight and analysis on the market. Phoning in from Cincinnati, Detrick said he’s cautiously optimistic about stocks, even with major U.S. indexes around record levels.

“I still think we go higher, but in the back of my head when I hear longer-term bears [becoming bullish], that’s clearly a concern,” Detrick said on the podcast. “The big question is who’s going to drive us here and what’s going to push this higher.”

Stocks fell Friday, with the Dow snapping its 10-day winning streak. The S&P 500 remains about five points away from its all-time high.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, as seen on a monitor on the floor of the NYSE.

An upbeat jobs report stoked yet another market rally, sending the Dow to its sixth straight day of gains and a fourth-straight record finish.

In the latest edition of MarketBeat Week, our Friday podcast, the crew discusses Friday’s jobs report, the Fed’s impact on the Dow’s rally to record highs and Carl Icahn taking activism to a new level.

Unless an 11th-hour agreement is hatched in Washington, the automatic budget cuts known as the sequester will likely move ahead. Yet Wall Street remains unfazed.

In this week’s edition of MarketBeat Week, our Friday podcast, the crew talks about why the markets have largely been ignoring the latest budget impasse in Washington. Stocks have rebounded from Monday’s sharp selloff, with the Dow about 100 points away from its all-time high even as political gridlock in D.C. is only expected to intensify.

Meanwhile, disappointing quarterly results from J.C. Penney and Groupon dominated the headlines, with the latter canning its founder and CEO Andrew Mason about 24 hours ago.

Groupon’s struggles are indicative of a company struggling mightily as a publicly traded entity, while J.C. Penney’s difficulties illustrate the troubles facing brick-and-mortar stores in the retail sector.

But perhaps the most unusual news item this week came in a Friday morning press conference with President Obama. The president, in response to a question about forcing a deal between the bickering parties in Congress, said he can’t use the “Jedi Mind-Meld” to make something happen. The, we assume, inadvertent mixing of sci-fi references sent the Twitterverse, and certain reporters, into a tizzy.

On Friday, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard put concerns of an early Fed exit to rest. And next week the focus will shift to Chairman Ben Bernanke and his semi-annual testimony to Congress.

“The most important two people at the Fed are Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen. Until they turn, until they change, until they think the costs outweigh the benefits of their policies, nothing is going to change at the Fed,” Paul Vigna said on the podcast.

It certainly seemed like this week gave the Street a boost of that old-time feeling. Deals were coming fast and furious. Comcast-NBCUniversal. US Airways-AMR. Warren Buffett-Ketchup. The convoluted Anheuser-Busch, Modelo, and Constellation Brands deal. And then, the strawberry on the top of the ice cream cone: Carl Icahn buying a 13% stake in Bill Ackman’s massive short bet, Herbalife.

On paper, M&A activity is running at a pace higher than last year, and is in fact off to its best start since 2005. So, does that mean it’s back? What does the spurt of activity mean about the Street, and the economy, both here and overseas? Those are the questions the crew of the MarketBeat Week podcast attempted to answer in this Friday’s edition, hosted by Stephen Grocer, with Telis Demos and Paul Vigna on hand.

The answer is…well, you’ve have to listen and find out for yourself. Grab a set of headphones and take a listen to this week’s podcast.

For more MarketBeat and other streaming markets coverage from The Wall Street Journal, point your mobile browser to wsj.com/marketspulse.

In the world of social-media stocks, LinkedIn Corp. keeps plowing ahead while its competition lags behind. The professional social network reported another impressive quarter, prompting the stock to rise 21% and hit another record high. Meanwhile, shares of Facebook Inc., Zynga Inc. and Groupon Inc. all continue to hover under their respective IPO prices.

Meanwhile, the stock market continues its march higher. The Dow crossed above 14000 on Friday for the first time since October 2007, continuing the relentless push that has put record highs in sight. Dow 14000 has proven to be hard to reach and tough to hold, similar to Apple Inc. when it joined the $700 club. That didn’t end so well.

Also, with the Super Bowl two days away, the crew gives its predictions for the big game. (Spoiler alert, someone is “Wacko for Flacco.”)

Morgan Stanley swung to a fourth-quarter profit, shares jumped and CEO James Gorman said the bank is finished cutting jobs. Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan were among other big banks that reported results this week.

Additionally, rumors continue to swirl about whether Dell will be able to pull off a big LBO and whether this deal could create a domino effect for future transactions.

And Apple’s latest tumble below $500 has investors wondering whether the iPhone maker is turning into a plodding value stock.

In this week’s edition of MarketBeat Week, our Friday podcast, the crew talks about the faceoff between hedge-fund titans over Herbalife Ltd., Dish Network jumping into the Sprint/Clearwire fiasco and the drama surrounding a potential trillion-dollar coin.

About MarketBeat

MarketBeat looks under the hood of Wall Street each day, finding market-moving news, analyzing trends and highlighting noteworthy commentary from the best blogs and research. MarketBeat is updated frequently throughout the day, helping investors stay on top of what’s happening in the markets. Lead writers Paul Vigna and Steven Russolillo spearhead the MarketBeat team, with contributions from other Journal reporters and editors. Have a comment? Write to paul.vigna@wsj.com or steven.russolillo@wsj.com.

Technology companies whose earnings disappoint investors are paying an unusually large toll this quarter, highlighting Wall Street’s high expectations for the sector at a time of uneven economic growth.